-----
This book does not partake of the character of an historical or academic treatise. It does not contain a long array of names of which not one man in a hundred has ever heard. In fact, it is not addressed to learned people in particular, but can readily be apprehended by everybody. There are no obscurities of language, no paradoxes and no flights of fancy in these pages; for, on account of the magnitude of the subject chosen, it was thought fitting to adopt a manner which is simple and grave.
{{comment.content}}